The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has begun deploying at least 2,000 men to the northeastern town of Aba near the Sudan border to disarm 400 Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who recently entered the country.

Some 5,000 civilians who fled fighting last week between the army and local armed groups in a gold mining area of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Ituri District began returning to their homes on Monday, a Roman Catholic clergyman said.

The UN Security Council extended on Friday the mandate of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, until the end of October.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said on Friday its army would resist any invasion by foreign forces.

A constitutional referendum for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will not be held on 27 October as planned because only about half of the voters have registered so far, the head of the country's electoral commission said on Thursday.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday the Congolese government and the UN mission there known as MONUC must, in two months, disarm Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who recently crossed into eastern Congo or his army would do so.

The Ugandan rebels of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) that recently crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo must disarm and repatriate without any negotiation or force will be used: this was the ultimatum launched by the military spokesman of the MONUC (United Nations Mission in DR-Congo), Thierry Provendier.

Some 400 Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who in September crossed from Sudan to the Garamba National Park in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are the latest of several foreign groups which the government says must leave the country by Friday or face serious consequences.

Delegates attending a session of the Regional Preparatory Committee on the International Conference on the Great Lakes have adopted peace and security documents as well as a non-aggression and mutual defence pact, Angola's state-owned news agency, Angop, reported on Thursday.

A programme for the delivery of weapons to the secret services in the Democratic Republic of Congo - under a United Nations arms embargo - from the Belgian government of Vallon, and of second-hand guns from Brussels authorities to the police in DR-Congo, was submitted to questioning of the European Commission to establish the legitimacy of the operation.